'Fringe': Comic-Con 2012 - live blog

Fringe may be coming into its final season, but before that there's still time for a Comic-Con panel! Hall H is full of excited fans - even more so now they've seen a trailer...

Executive producer Joel Wyman and stars Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Lance Reddick, Anna Torv and Jasika Nicole have just hit the stage, so stick with Digital Spy for all the action!

11:05The moderator Damian asks the cast to stand up and give a bow! It's a really lovely moment as they get a standing ovation and clap the crowd back. But that's a wrap for the Fringe panel... we can't wait for the new season now!

11:03Lance says he loved playing alt-Broyles because he was "so conflicted". "I wish he'd lived a little longer but he definitely died with a bang," he says. Anna says Olivia is "much more satisfying" than her alternate, while Jasika loved both Astrids but alt-Astrid was a "challenge" for her. She talks about the alt-Astrid being "undynamic", then "out of nowhere she comes and she really brings it". But she used to get a headache because alt-Astrid would stand so focused! "It really was difficult to say goodbye to the alternate universe," she says.

10:59Any female Observers this year? Joel says he always wanted them and the network said no... then admits that's not true. "I think that the answer to your question will become apparent this year," he teases. "There is a reason and you'll find out the reason."

10:59What are the guy's favorite Walterisms, asks a fan? "I think 'vagenda' still has to be top," Joshua says. Lance also has a favorite, from the pilot - "Just a squirt". He reveals he rewound it over and over! Anna can't choose, as there are just so many.

10:56Jasika and Anna have read some of the fanfic! "You guys are scandalous," Jasika announces. Anna says they haven't had time, but they're tempted to shoot a little of it... Phew!

10:55John excites the crowd by saying "a film is very possible down the track", depending on the reaction to this final season. Joel jokes they'll film it on his phone! Joshua also thinks there's a future in the show and says fan fiction is a big part, too. "I think the show will live on in some form or another," he says.

10:54Will the series continue in any way - comic books or websites or anything? And would the cast voice or write stuff? Of course, Jasika writes comics. "I'd be happy to keep the story on in my own head," she says, joking that it would be very different from the show. "It would be called The Adventures of Astrid," she quips.

10:53The next audience member asks Joshua if he's jealous of everyone playing alternate versions of themselves. "Part of me enjoyed that I didn't have to go through the rigmarole," he says, explaining that it was a lot of work to create whole alternate characters. He says it would have been fun - "But I was happy with those days off!"

10:52A fan asks if Henry Ian Cusick will be in future episodes. Joel says he's going to be "really careful" with what he says, since there's only 13 episodes left and he wants fans to experience the show as it happens. "Let's just say, Henry was an astounding performer last season - let's see if he makes his way into the season this year," he teases. "I'm going to be tight-lipped."

10:50John says he didn't know how much fun Fringe would be. Lance says he doesn't have an answer - he doesn't remember his first day on set or the first scene he shot! Anna says the scene from the pilot where they're walking towards the airport, you can see them getting bigger and bigger and bigger because it was so cold they kept putting more clothes on. Lance only had to greet them, though - "I wasn't that cold," he grins.

10:48Anna says she'd have loved someone to "take a breath" as television is "fluid". "Nothing is set in stone," she explains. "You can just go with it." Jasika, though, says no advice could have prepared her for her first day on set. "It was just really overwhelming and there was nothing to ready me for what I was about to experience for the next five years," she says.

10:47The first fan is from Canada and has loved seeing Vancouver on the show. But her question is, what piece of advice do they wish they'd had on their first day on set? The cast seem stumped. "Get a good night's sleep," Joshua suggests. "At least it wasn't fire your agent," Joel jokes.

10:46We're about to have fan questions, but first Joshua has an announcement: He didn't wet himself - it's just water from when he was pretending to be crying! "That's not going to look good," he admits.

10:41Joel introduces a new exclusive video clip which is to say thank you to the fans... and to Fox, for sticking with the show even with "middling" ratings. (Joshua coughs about Firefly...) But Joel's praising the network for keeping it up.

10:39Lance talks about not knowing whether bodies are dummies or real - there was one he thought was a dummy, before it blinked! Anna says she was talking to someone on a gurney, went away, and when she came back was shocked because the woman had been swapped for a dummy with its eye out!

10:39Joshua's fed up of the crying - he's talking about the times he almost "lost his lunch"! In the first season, there was a moment a girl's eyeball was out of his skull. "That's just so foul," he says he thought at the time. And in 'Snakehead', when they pulled worms out of people. He admits he retched when he saw John pull out a worm of one of the bodies!

10:37Joshua's not too weepy either. He decides to go for Seth Gabel's doppelganger stuff - the way he contrasted the two Lincolns in general.

10:36"I loved it when Peter chopped that guy's fingers off," John jokes, lightening the mood. And he also praises the scene where Olivia shot 17 men. "I'm not going to cry," he insists.

10:35Uh oh, Lance is crying! "S**t!" he says. He explains he hasn't watched much of Fringe but the scene when Astrid has a conversation with herself and her alternate self asks if her father loves her... Lance can barely get through this because he's so emotional!

10:34So is Anna. "We're girls and they put us together," she complains as she cries! Luckily someone's just brought some tissues on stage. Anna's now praising Jasika, speaking about a "magic moment" as she watched her film. The tears keep coming now, and Lance jokes that he's worried he's going to start crying!

10:32The cast are asked about their favorite scenes from Fringe - but ones they didn't star in. Jasika chooses Walter at the phone booth when he can't remember the number to get in touch with Peter (awws from the fans!) She also loves Olivia going into her house and realizing the doppelganger has been washing her clothes and starts ripping them out of the dryer. "It was so heartbreaking... It was just played with such subtlety and beautiful," she says. "I'm getting so emotional right now!" She's getting teary!

10:30Joshua says the fun part of the show is the "process of discovery". He says he tries not to give away too many spoilers because it makes it more fun to watch. He explains that he feels the same way about Breaking Bad, which he loves! So what's this season? "Our last journey together."

10:29Joel refuses to let Joshua speak about what's coming up for Peter and Olivia, so Joshua covers up his mic! But he behaves really: "I think these two will get the final chapter of their story," he says. "I concur," Anna adds.

10:28Speaking of love... time to speak to Josh and Anna! Joshua says it's a "typical" romance... then runs through all the many developments in their relationship! It takes quite a while...

10:27John says there is real "love" between all the characters. "Through all the science fiction and the hurdles we've gone through, it's the love that's kept us going," he says.

10:26Damian's paying tribute to the magnificent John Noble, now. He admits the cast are like a "family" and he gets "angry" if anything happens to them! "I get the sense that the group of people I work with would have each other's back through many, many things," he says, adding that they have a "real sense of solidarity".

10:23Damian says Joshua's name. Even that is enough to get a cheer! But what's he learned from being on the show? "I would like to aspire to the nobility that Peter has developed over the course of the five years," he says. "The sacrifices he has made for love and for family are on an epic scale." He adds that it has been a "great joy" to go from son to father figure, back to son.

10:22Jasika reveals Lance has been wearing a Breaking Bad hat as a Comic-Con disguise! "I'm walking behind him and he's like, 'They're just going to think I'm a fan'," she jokes. "He is the tallest, darkest, handsomest man at Comic-Con!"

10:21Moderator Damian Holbrook calls Lance "one cool bad-ass". That's fair! He asks if people are surprised he's not as scary as Broyles - "What do you mean?!" Lance jokes. "People are always surprised when they see me smile," he adds.

10:20Jasika says fans loved Astrid from the beginning and wanted to see more from her. She thinks her good off-screen relationship with John ended up translating to the screen. She admits she thought she could get killed off - "And I didn't die! I made it to the fifth season!" More cheers from the crowd!

10:18"Without you guys and the media and your incredible support, we wouldn't be here," Joel says, praising the fans and saying he wants to give back. Unsurprisingly this gets a big cheer!

10:18Are the Observers as bad as we think? "They're much, much worse!" Joel laughs. He reveals that there's going to be an Observer book, "through the prism of September's impressions of what he's seen". "There may be some things in there that surprise you," he adds. Plus, there's going to be a contest - people who sign up to buy the book early will get their names in it!

10:17Joel says he originally had a couple of ways to end the show. But it "became very clear" what he should do - and he's told the cast what will happen, too.

10:15Joshua says everyone was "happily surprised" Fringe was renewed because they were on a "razor edge".

10:14The show's not in production, so how come that trailer just had unseen footage? Turns out the cast actually recorded it specially! The video was actually what they showed to get their fifth season.

10:13What a way to start the panel. A bunch of fans are holding up white tulips. Isn't that so nice for the final season? And now Joel's recording a message from the fans on his phones to send to the absent Blair Brown.